A technology has been developed in which a radio device for near field communication (NFC), a radio device for Bluetooth®, or the like, which is installed in a portable terminal apparatus such as a smart phone, is used to receive a signal from an NFC tag, a Bluetooth beacon, or the like. A portable terminal apparatus is capable of recognizing that a specific NFC tag or Bluetooth beacon is in the vicinity of the portable terminal apparatus by the received signal. Hereinafter, the NFC tag, the Bluetooth beacon, and so forth will be referred to as “device”, and the radio device for NFC, the radio device for Bluetooth, and so forth, which are installed in the portable terminal apparatus, will be referred to as “sensor (device detection apparatus)”. The portable terminal apparatus executes specific processes based on sensing results of the sensor, notifies a server of the circumstance of the portable terminal apparatus, and receives information or application software (hereinafter referred to as “application”) that is suitable for the circumstance. For example, when a user who retains the portable terminal apparatus visits a certain event site, the sensor of the portable terminal apparatus detects the devices such as the NFC tag and the Bluetooth beacon that are provided in the site, and the portable terminal apparatus thereby senses that the user visits the event site. Then, the sensing result is transmitted from the portable terminal apparatus to the server, and the server delivers guide information or the like about the event site, for example, to the portable terminal apparatus.
Meanwhile, in order to reduce power consumption of the portable terminal apparatus having such a sensor, a technology has been developed in which the operation mode of a central processing unit (CPU) of the portable terminal apparatus turns into a quiescent mode in a case where the CPU is not performing data processing and turns into an active mode in a case where a device detection signal from the sensor is received, for example. This reduces the power consumption of the CPU and thus increases an operable time of the portable terminal apparatus by battery driving.
Here, the CPU may execute a prescribed process in a case where the detection order of plural devices to be detected by the sensor corresponds to a specific order. This may be a case where the server delivers specific information to the portable terminal apparatus only when the user having the portable terminal apparatus goes around plural booths provided in a certain event site following a prescribed usual route. For example, the prescribed usual route about booths A and B provided in the event site defines that the user first goes to the booth A and thereafter the booth B. In this case, the sensor detects a device A such as the NFC tag or the Bluetooth beacon that is provided in the booth A on a visit of the booth A by the user and notifies the CPU of the device detection signal. In a case where the CPU is in the quiescent mode at this point, the CPU turns into the active mode based on the device detection signal. The CPU then records that the CPU detects the device A based on the received device detection signal. The CPU turns into the quiescent mode in a case where there is no other data processing to be executed. Next, the sensor detects a device B that is provided in the booth B on a visit of the booth B by the user and notifies the CPU of the device detection signal. In a case where the CPU is in the quiescent mode at this point, the CPU turns into the active mode based on a reception of the device detection signal. The CPU then determines that the user visits the booth A and the booth B following the prescribed usual route based on the fact that the device detection signal received at the present time is the signal that indicates the device B and the device detection signal that indicates the device A is already received and demands the server to deliver the specific information.
In such a process, the CPU of the portable terminal apparatus turns from the quiescent mode into the active mode when the device A is detected despite the fact that the CPU executes the prescribed process for the first time in a case where the device B is further detected after the device A is detected. Thus, the power consumption of the CPU may not sufficiently be reduced.
Accordingly, a technology has been suggested in which a processor separate from the CPU, for example, a micro-control unit (MCU), is provided in the portable terminal apparatus, the MCU is caused to perform an order determination of plural device detection signals, and in a case where the MCU makes a determination that the plural device detection signals are issued in a prescribed order, the MCU notifies the CPU of the determination. By using this method, the CPU does not have to turn into the active mode at each time when plural device detection signals are generated from the sensor, and the period in which the CPU maintains the quiescent mode may be extended. Further, in a case where the power consumption of the MCU is lower than the power consumption of the CPU, the power consumption of the portable terminal apparatus as a whole may be reduced. An example of a document of related art is Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-131940.